With the extensive application of the Internet of Things and its terminal devices, it becomes crucial to address the matter of designing a wireless network technology adapted for the communication of the Internet of Things. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is currently developing a new access system, which is used for designing a wireless access technology with low complicity and low throughput to meet the needs of the wireless Internet of Things, referred to as the Narrowband-Internet of Things (NB-IoT). The features of this access technology include: supporting large-scale devices with low throughput, low latency sensitivity, ultra-low device cost, ultra-low power consumption, and optimized network architecture.
In NB-IoT, such UE with low throughout, ultra-low device cost, and low power consumption supports only 180 kHz network bandwidth, i.e., a physical resource block in long term evolution (LTE), referred to as a carrier; and the UE needs to support three deployment modes: a stand-alone deployment mode, a guard-band deployment mode, and an in-band deployment mode. The stand-alone mode of operation is to implement NB-IOT on the existing GSM frequency band, i.e., using the operating frequency band of an existing GERAN system and a scattering frequency band potentially deployed by the IOT. The guard-band mode of operation is to implement NB-IOT in the guard band of one LTE carrier, i.e., using a frequency band in the LTE frequency band that is used as the guard band. The in-band mode of operation is to implement NB-IOT in the existing LTE frequency band, i.e., using the frequency band in the LTE frequency band for actual transmission. Different bearer modes may adopt different physical parameters and processing mechanisms.
In Release 13, carriers of NB-IoT are divided into anchor carriers and non-anchor carriers. An anchor carrier is defined as a carrier on which UE considers that NB-IoT related data, such as a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a primary synchronization signal (PSS)/secondary synchronization signal (SSS), or a system information block (SIB), is to be transmitted; and a non-anchor carrier is defined as a carrier on which UE determines that no NB-IoT related data, such as a PBCH, a PSS, an SSS, or an SIB, is to be transmitted. That is, UE determines that the non-anchor carrier is only used to receive or send NB-IOT related unicast transmitted data, such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). When an eNB does not configure a non-anchor carrier for the UE, the anchor carrier may also be used by the UE to receive or send NB-IoT related unicast transmitted data, such as a PDCCH, a PDSCH, or a PUSCH. The eNB may configure a non-anchor carrier for the UE by using a radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment message, an RRC connection reestablishment message, an RRC connection reconfiguration message, an RRC connection recovery message, and the like.
In Release 13 NB-IoT, a paging message is also transmitted only on an anchor carrier; and idle UE receives the paging message on the anchor carrier. An eNB sends paging related configuration (PCCH config) via an SIB, and the UE receives the paging based on the configuration.
In another project eMTC of Release 13, RAN2 introduces a concept of paging narrowband. An eNB may configure a parameter for UE by using a system message; the parameter indicates the number of paging narrowbands. For example, if the parameter is configured to 3, it indicates that narrowband #0, narrowband #1, and narrowband #2 are configured to be paging narrowbands. Based on the parameter, the UE also calculates on which paging narrowband UE receives the paging; the calculation equation is as follows:PNB=floor(UE_ID/(N*Ns))mod Nn 
where N=min(T, nB), Ns=max(1, nB/T), and Nn is the number of configured paging narrowbands; UE_ID=IMSI mod 16384; nB and T are PCCH parameters configured by using the system information.
RAN #72 meeting has approved a new Release 14 NB-IOT project to enhance the NB-IOT of Release 13, including support for paging on non-anchor carriers. However, no solution is provided in the prior art on how to support paging on non-anchor carriers.